


No Matter What Happens

by gsaiyn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, and i left it at like 500 words for two weeks, because i forgot oct 8 was day one of heith week, i eneded up writing most of this in one day, my friends hate me, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gsaiyn/pseuds/gsaiyn
Summary: Day 1 of Heith week - fear/braveryTeam Voltron has a new mission, take out the super weapon on a Galra ship. Keith has to protect Hunk and thinking it was a smart idea to run towards the enemy instead of letting them get near, Keith gets himself severely injured and trapped. Hunk finds him in the Black Room all beat up and bloodied. Keith looks like Death under the soft blue glow of their suits.





	

At Allura's call, all five of the paladins assembled in the main deck in their suits and ready to head into battle. They received intel from a recently liberated planet that Zarkon had a weapon on one of his ships that could devastate a planet's life force in an instant. After doing extensive research and using Green's stealth to search ships, they finally tracked the ship they needed to find and deactivate the weapon. It was going to be tricky, but they were ready. 

Coran pulled up a holo-map of the ship. There were three points highlighted in red. "We're going to need three groups to deactivate the Drainer." That's what they've been calling it, the "Drainer." The term Allura and Coran coined up for the weapon was in Altean, so they just accepted the simple term the paladins threw out. "Shiro is going to patrol this section," Coran pointed to the red dot furthest from the other two. "He won't need to do anything except keep guards and sentries out of that room. If they get in there, they can undo all of our work in the other two rooms."

"I will be accompanying Shiro in his task," Allura stated, no hint in her voice that there was room argument. Her word was final and no disagreed.

Coran zoomed in closer to the other two red dots. They were far apart but they were much closer together than they were to the third. The two rooms were connected by the same route until the halls came to a fork that set them apart. "Lance and Pidge will go to this room," Coran pointed to the red dot at the top. "There, Lance will guard Pidge as she hacks into the system and starts the process." Coran pointed to the dot below, "And here is where Keith will guard Hunk. Hunk, I will need you to wait until my word to start your part." 

The paladins nodded in understanding. As Coran kept talking about the weapon and how it worked, Keith glanced over and could see the uneasiness in Hunk. He moved closer to him and squeezed his hand. He could feel how tense Hunk was. And he could feel it slowly melt away as he held his hand. Hunk was worried about all the things that could go wrong, the only problem with having a very analytical brain. Having and knowing Keith was there right next to him and was going to help him eased his mind. That was their dynamic; Hunk helped Keith calm down and think things through and Keith helped Hunk think less and do more.

"I wish you all the best of luck and hope that this will go as planned." Coran finished his explanation. The paladins had some time to get themselves prepared with some quick training. 

"What if I mess up? What if I'm too late to act on Coran's signal?" Hunk worried aloud to Keith. "I could compromise our whole mission. What if my mess up gets one of us killed?"

Keith squeezed his hand again. "None of us are going to die, Hunk. We've all made a mistake here and there and we've made it this far." Keith kept his voice soft for Hunk and he appreciated it. It was low and warm and it made Hunk feel at ease. "You'll do great out there, big guy, I know you will." Keith leaned in and gave Hunk a peck on the cheek. "You always do." Keith smiled at him softly.  
Hunk’s face brightened with a hue of red and he smiled back. “Thank you, Keith.” They pressed their foreheads together for a brief, tender moment before heading off to join Pidge and the others in the green lion’s hangar. 

 

“All right, team. Is everyone ready?” Shiro asked them all before walking into the lion. Everyone nodded their heads. “Good. We have to be extra careful on this mission since we won’t have Voltron to protect us.”

“If Pidge and Hunk can get their jobs done as quick as possible, we will do just fine,” Allura added. “This is a stressful mission, I understand. I have great hope that everything will go as planned.”

The green lion opened it’s mouth to let the team inside. Pidge got in the pilot’s seat and took off out of the castle. “Activating the invisibility cloak…” Pidge inched her lion as close to the ship as possible without getting spotted as she could. “Now!” 

The green lion weaved in and out of Galra ships without being noticed and landed on the underside of the main ship. “Green should be safe here,” Pidge assured the team of her placement. 

They closed the visors of their helmets and hopped out of the lion. Shiro used his Galra-tech arm to cut a hole in the bottom of the ship big enough for them to fit through. He ushered the other five in first before jumping in himself. “Stay safe,” Allura told them as the six separated in groups of two. 

Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Keith were silent the entire way to their assigned rooms. They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves from the sentires. They took out as little as they could at the fork and went on their ways. Hunk’s mind was racing as they ran. What if he didn’t start in time? What if they couldn’t make it to the room? Will he be able to understand the alien tech? 

“Hunk,” Keith whispered, almost as if he was reading Hunk’s mind. “It’s going to be okay.” Keith pulled Hunk to the side against a wall as to not be seen by a sentry. 

“Thank you.” Hunk let out a relieved sigh and they were back on their way. 

Just as they made it to the control room as Coran’s voice crackled on their comms. “Is everyone ready?”

“I’m hacking in now,” Pidge came through. 

“Allura and I have the place on lockdown.” Fighting could be heard from Shiro’s end. They didn’t worry, though, that was what they would have expected from his and Allura’s section. 

“I’m ready on your command, Coran,” Hunk said walking up to the control panel. Just as he expected, garbled alien languages scrolled across the big holographic screen and panel. 

Keith and Lance didn’t say anything. They kept their focus on watching for sentries and guards.

“I’m ready to start,” Pidge came again. 

“Hunk, locate the button with a symbol that resembles a toxicity caution symbol.” 

Hunk scanned the panel and found it, letting his hand hover over it. “I got it.” 

“When I give the word, you wanna hit that button and it will be followed by a simple sequence. Hit the button again at the end of the sequence. Pidge will be able to take care of the rest from there.” 

“When will I know the sequence ends?” Hunk tried to hide the worry in his voice but to no avail. 

“The screen will appear black, that is when you will hit the button a second time.” 

Hunk nodded to himself. “Got it.” 

Hunk looked over at the doorway. He could see the tension built up in Keith’s muscles. “Keith, remember not to do anything stupid.” 

Keith casted a look over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about me, okay?” The two of them shared a quick smile. 

“I’m almost ready.” Pidge’s voice was quiet, but not by choice. They could hear the sound of Lance’s gun going off at rapid fire behind her. This alerted Keith to be on guard, that enemies could be coming soon. 

“Now, Hunk!” Coran’s command shocked Hunk, only for a moment. Hunk slammed his hand down on the button. His attention was pulled from the screen as he heard the approaching footsteps of soldiers. Keith heard them, too. 

Hunk had to look back to the screen to make sure he didn’t miss his cue to hit the button again. “Keith.” He didn’t need to say anymore than his name to let him know they were thinking the same thing.

“I’m sorry, Hunk.” Keith bolted out the door and down the hall towards the footsteps. 

Hunk stared at the screen with an emotionless expression. Lines of code in an alien language scrolled and flashed across the red screen. “Be safe,” he muttered. The screen turned black and Hunk slammed down on the button. “The sequence ended. Pidge!” 

“On it!”

“How close are you guys to being done?” Shiro’s wearied voice crackled through the comms. 

“We’re almost there,” Pidge and Hunk assured at the same time. Through the comm they could hear the angry and powerful grunts from Allura and then a loud bang. Either they were in big trouble or the enemy was in big trouble. It was the latter. 

They all heard the loud whirring and banging sounds of a machine coming to the end of it’s life beneath them. “We did it!” Pidge cheered. She pulled out her bayard to help Lance finish off the enemies in their section. Hunk was hit with the sudden realization he hasn’t seen one enemy after Keith ran off. 

He slowly walked out of the room, taking his bayard out with caution. The hall was clear left and right, but no sign of Keith. He hadn’t even heard a crackle or static come from his comm the entire time. 

“Keith ran off, and I haven’t seen him since,” Hunk told the others, making way down the halls. “I’m going to go look for him. Head to the green lion without me.” No one argued with him or tried to convince him otherwise to let them help. Once Hunk was dead set on something, there was no breaking him. 

He stepped over corpses of sentries that were cut cleanly in half and many other places. “Could Keith have done all of this?” he thought to himself. He looked up and saw the entire hall littered with them.

He walked past a few more bodies before stopping in his tracks again. This time, he heard a crackle from his comm. “Guys… I don’t know where I am… It’s dark… I’m hurt…” The broken voice belonged to Keith. “I don’t know if i can make it, you guys.” His voice came through weakly. It sounded like his comm was busted and cut out here and there. It infuriated Hunk. 

“Hunk,” Shiro came through. He sounded better than he did earlier. “I can guide you to Keith.” 

“I trust you, Shiro.” Hunk readied his gun cannon just in case he ran into an enemy, though it seemed unlikely from the carnage Keith left behind. 

“You need to head towards the area Allura and I guarded and go from there.” Hunk listened carefully to Shiro and made his way back carefully. “From there, face the doorway and take a right. Follow that hall until the only option to go is left. That hall leads to a dead end. That’s what they want you to think. It’s a trick played by Haggar. Shoot down the wall and you’ll be tossed into a black pit.” Hunk was running his way through the halls to the point Shiro told him and listened intently on the way. “Find Keith in the blackness. Aim your cannon upwards and use it as a beacon.” 

Hunk came to the supposed dead end and looked up at the common symbol among the ships used by the Galra. He aimed his gun cannon dead center of the wall and let fire. Just as Shiro told him, he became engulfed in darkness. Though, he did not need to use his gun cannon as a beacon of light; He could see the soft blue glow come from Keith’s suit in the distance. 

Hunk ran. He ran and he ran, but it felt like he covered no distance between him and Keith. He shot upwards and saw solid floor for the first time. On the floor he saw a dotted trail of blood. “Keith!” He cried out in the direction he saw the light from his suit. The light shifted and he heard an echoed groan of pain. The light from his makeshift beacon dissipated and he fired again. He ran and this time he covered the distance between him and Keith. 

“Hunk?” Keith’s voice was weak. Weaker than it was when he came through on the comm. He tried to sit up to see who was coming at him. 

“Keith! Keith!” Hunk fell to his knees at Keith’s side and helped him sit up slowly. “Keith, are you okay?” 

Keith could barely open his eyes to see Hunk. Keith moved his hand from holding his side and Hunk saw the blood staining his suit and glove. Hunk finally took notice of just how beat up Keith was. The visor on his helmet was cracked in more places than one, his suit torn in many places, blood staining his suit wasn’t all his but most of it was. Keith moved his hand to grab Hunk’s. “I’m sorry,” was all he said. 

“Keith, no. Don’t you dare go like this. I swear to all that is holy, I will bring you back and kill you myself if you leave us, leave me.” Tears welled up behind Hunk’s eyes and his lips quivered. “Track my location and slam the green lion into the ship,” he spoke into the comm with a shaking voice. He put away his bayard and picked up Keith in his arms.

“Hunk…”

“Keith, you’re going to be okay. I promise. We’ll get you back to the castle and in a healing pod.” 

“Hunk, I love you.” 

Hunk put their foreheads together like they did back at the ship before all this happened. Keith weakly put his hand to Hunk’s cheek. “I love you, too, Keith.” Tears streamed down Hunk’s face through the blood left from Keith’s hand. “Please, please don’t go.”

That’s when they heard it. They could hear the purr of a mechanical cat among the darkness. Suddenly, Hunk was blinded by the yellow eyes of the green lion. “Get in!” Pidge crackled through their comms. Hunk ran as fast as he could to reach the lion. He was inches from the mouth of the lion when he heard another sound. It sounded like the angry cry of a woman. 

The next thing Hunk saw was a blinding flash of light filling up the darkness. The force from the lightning blew him back into the lion’s mouth. The lion’s jaws closed tightly and flew off back in the direction of the castle under its invisibility cloak. Shiro and Lance pulled Hunk and Keith into the pilot’s den. Both of them were out cold. Keith, thankfully, was still breathing and holding onto Hunk tightly. 

“Rush them into the medical bay as soon as we get back to the castle,” allura ordered. 

 

Lance was standing in front of the healing pods alone when one of them opened. “Lance?” Hunk’s weary voice was hoarse. Lance ran up to him and caught him when he lost his balance. “Lance, where’s Keith?” The level of concern in his voice was etched in his face. The last thing he remembered was Keith’s limp body in his arms in an unending pit of blackness. 

Lance’s face was grim. “He’s okay. For the most part. But we don’t know when he’ll come out of the pod.” Hunk looked over to his right and saw Keith still body in his pod. 

“What happened out there?” Lance’s voice brought Hunk back to reality. 

“I- I don’t know…” He sat down on the steps in front of Keith’s pod. “Keith heard the fighting on your end and heard the footsteps coming towards us. He ran off and that was the last I saw of him. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“What about the Black Room?”

Hunk put his head in his hands. “Exactly that; Nothing but darkness. I couldn’t move without a source of light. I reached Keith with the help of my gun cannon and he was looking so horrible,” he glanced up at Keith’s pod, “he looked like death.” Lance rubbed at a spot on his back. “And… And that scream…”

“We heard it.” 

“And the flash of light…”

“Lightning.” Hunk looked at him confused. “That scream was Haggar. She screamed something about taking away her specimen and tried to kill you both. You got hit pretty hard. But the blow you took saved Keith’s life.” The two of them looked at Keith’s pod again. Hunk couldn’t believe that he and Keith were that close to death. It didn’t feel right. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat. You need it.”

 

Weeks passed. Keith still hadn’t emerged from his healing pod. Hunk was getting super worried now. He knew Keith had been severely hurt, but he didn’t think it would take this long to heal. He went to the medical bay after dinner instead of his room. He stood in front of Keith’s pod with a hand on the glass and his forehead pressed against where Keith’s would have been. “Keith…” His voice was quiet. 

He jumped back when the pod made a weird sound and whirred. A groggy Keith fell into his arms and groaned. “Keith!”

“Wha… Hunk? Where are we?” 

“We’re back at the castle. Everything is okay. I told you it would be.” Hunk hugged him and held him close and tight. “Everything is okay. You’re okay.” Tears started rolling down his cheeks. 

Keith finally remembered what happened and hugged Hunk. “Oh, oh my god, Hunk. Hunk, I’m so sorry. What I did was stupid.” 

“Shh, don’t say a word. It’s okay.” They let go of each other and looked one another in the eyes. “You’re safe, that’s all that matters to me.”

Tears streamed down Keith’s face now, too. He brought his hands up to Hunk’s face and cupped his cheeks. They brought their foreheads together and kissed. It was small and quick. “I missed you so much,” Hunk whispered.

“I missed you, too.”

Hunk helped Keith to kitchen to get something to eat. After Keith sat down at the table, Hunk started preparing a quick meal for him. “Do you remember what happened?” Hunk asked quietly. 

Keith shook his head. “Not much of it, no.” 

Hunk set a plate down in front of Keith and sat across from him. “That’s okay. You don’t have to. I’m sure it was a traumatic experience.” Hunk’s voice was soft and warm to Keith’s ears. 

Keith went to brush some hair out of eyes and that’s when he noticed something that was off. He stared at his hand and then at the hair in his face. Hunk looked at him confused and saw it, too. Keith’s hands were his normal, pale skin tone. But his fingers came to sharp points with claw-like nails; Similar to those of the Galra. And his hair. His hair wasn’t completely black anymore; The tips and large sections were now purple. 

“Keith…” Hunk reached out a gentle hand and took Keith’s in his. 

“I’m a…” A stray tear rolled down his cheek. 

“No, you’re not. You’re still my Keith, our Keith.” He rubbed his thumb across the back of his hand gently. “Lance said Haggar called you her ‘specimen.’ This isn’t you. You’re still Keith. Keith Kogane, paladin of Voltron, pilot of the red lion. Nothing can ever change that, you hear me?”

Keith nodded, too busy holding back tears to say something.

“Come on, you gotta eat.” Hunk pushed the plate a little closer to him. 

Keith ate his alien food in silence. Hunk wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what so he sat in silence with his boyfriend, occasionally holding Keith’s hand in his and bumping their feet together. It let Keith know Hunk was still there with him, and that Hunk was willing to be there with him despite being what he was now. 

Hunk took Keith’s empty plate and set it in the sink. They walked back to Keith’s room together in silence. Hunk kissed Keith’s forehead before turning to leave him in his room. 

“Hunk, wait…” Keith’s voice was quiet but audible. 

“Yeah, babe?”

“Can you… Can you sleep in here tonight?” Keith felt like he shouldn’t ask Hunk of this but he did anyways. 

Hunk turned back to him and smiled softly. “Of course.” 

Keith crawled into bed and Hunk followed, wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist. Normally, Keith would have asked Hunk to leave him some space, but after being separated for so long Keith craved to be in Hunk’s arms. He felt safe in Hunk’s arms. It felt like home to him. “I love you, Keith. No matter what happens,” Hunk whispered against his neck.

“Thank you.”


End file.
